DIVISION TWO

MERTHYR CONSERVATIVE CLUB 8 COLLIERS ARMS .......... 3

THIS was a very impressive display from the Con who ended 2016 in fine style with a dominant performance.

Jonathon Davies, Myrffryn Hughes 119 and Eddie Cunnington took the opening triples against the darts with victory over F Murphy, John Jones and Keith Lewis 100 and then 1-0 became 2-0 with John Hulbert 120, Geoff Jackson and Greg Howells holding over Martin Firth, Martin Treen and F Grey.

The first of the pairs went the way of the home side with Jonathon Davies and Myrffryn Hughes breaking Martin Firth and John Jones for 3-0 and then it was 4-0 with Eddie Cunnington and Chris Stansfield 180 holding over Martin Treen and Keith Lewis in dominant fashion.

Chris Price and Ron Phillips then made it a clean sweep of the pairs with a break over F Murphy and Trevor Lewis and a five-zip lead heading into the singles.

Jonathon Davies kept the scoreboard ticking over for the home side with a hold over John Jones in the first singles but the next game saw Martin Firth 2x100, 140 beat Myrffryn Hughes 100, 115, 140 with a 2-1 hold to get the Colliers up and running. Chris Price 102, 3x140 beat Martin Treen 100, 140 by a 2-0 margin to put the Con 7-1 ahead and this then became 7-2 with Keith Lewis turning the clock back to beat Eddie Cunnington 100, 140. Veteran Greg Howells 100 clung onto his throw in the tenth game making it 8-2 to the hosts with Trevor Lewis 2x100, 100 out taking the last game with a superb 2-0 hold over Colin Lloyd to gain a vital third leg for the away side.

MARTYRS CLUB ........... 3 ABERFAN SOCIAL CLUB X ........................... 8

SOMETHING of a shock result this with the normally solid-at-home Martyrs slumping to a heavy 8-3 defeat.

Greg Butler 100, G King and Glen Kitchen took the opening triples with throw over Bradley Howe 100, Ray Phillips 125 and David Howe putting the X into an early lead and this then became 2-0 with Byron Jones 137, S Rees and Mike O’Neill breaking Matthew Philips 100, Colin Howe 100 and Alun Pearce as the sides looked to the pairs legs.

Greg Butler and Glen Kitchen nudged the visi- tors into a 3-0 lead with a hold in the first pairs over Alun Pearce 100, and Steve Evans but the second pairs saw the home side finally get into the match with Roy Phillips and David Howe 140 holding over G King and Mike O’Neill 100 in a closely fought leg. The final pairs went the way of the away side with the impressive Dai James 100, 125 and Byron Jones 100 holding over the equally impressive Matthew Phillips 100 and Colin Howe 2x100 as the X claimed a 4-1 lead heading into the vital singles battles.

Colin Howe 5x100, 122, 140 was in excellent form in the first singles beating Greg Butler 100 by a 2-1 margin pulling a second point back for the hosts but back came the visitors with Glen Kitchen 2x100, 125, 147 beating Bradley Howe 122, 140 by a 2-1 margin 5-2 lead.

Byron Jones 100, 119 scored a fine 2-0 break over Roy Phillips 100 nudging the Social Club 6-2 ahead but then a third point appeared on the scoreboard for the home side with Steve Evans 162 beating G King against the darts.

The away side then went on to complete the victory taking the last two games with wins for Mike O’Neill 140 and Dai James 125 over Matthew Phillips 140 and Ray Phillips 125 respectively both with a 2-0 margin.

PENYDARREN SOCIAL CLUB C (SEASIDE) ........ 5 MERTHYR EX CLUB ..... 6

THIS was a fantastic game from start to finish with the result being decided in the very last game with both sides playing their part from beginning to end.

The Ex started well taking the first triples through Jason Baynham 100, Shane Williams 100 and Wayne O’Neill over Ceri Stent, Robert Pike and Ceri Richards and then it became 2-0 with Jason Davies 121, 140, Andrew Davies and Matthew Davies breaking Drew Bradley, John Sedgemore and Barrie Gilby.

Jason Baynham 100 and Paul Bayliss took the opening pairs with a hold over Kevin Hyde 135 and Ceri Stent 100 edging the visitors 3-0 ahead but then the Pen flowed with Robert Pike and Barrie Gilby beating Denzil Griffiths and Wayne Jones to get the hosts into the match and then they added a second with Drew Bradley and Connor John 121 breaking the throw of Jason Davies 100 and Steve Mahoney to trail by one point going into the singles battles.

The first singles saw Kevin Hyde 2x100 beat Paul Bayliss 100 with a 2-0 hold for a level game but then back came the Ex with Jason Baynham 3x100 beating Ceri Stent 123 (2-0) to go 4-3 ahead. The lead though was short lived as Ceri Richards 4x100 holding over Andrew Davies 120, 140 for a 4-4 game but yet again the away side responded with Jason Davies 125, 140 edging past Drew Bradley 2x100 to edge 5-4 ahead. Connor John 100 beat Steve Mahoney 100, 121, 122, 140 with a 2-0 hold to set up a deciding game which saw Shane Williams 100 continue the hold-ofthrow theme with a 2-0 win over John Sedgemore 120 to earn the Ex a hard fought, narrow 6-5 win.

DIVISION THREE IMPERIAL HOTEL ........ 7 DOWLAIS CON CLUB ... 4

THE Con were quick to get moving in this match with Josh Richards, Simon O’Brien and Andrew Murphy taking the opening triples over Paul Prosser, Terry Dowman and Alan Hancox 125 and then they led 2-0 with Mark Thomas, Gary Flye and Andrew Williams breaking the throw of Anthony Prosser 100, Wayne James and John Donovan in a hard fought game.

John Donovan and Trevor Williams 132 took the opening pairs over Mark Thomas 100 and Gary Flye 100, 117 getting the Imp into the game and then the sides were level with Wayne James and Paul Prosser holding over Simon O’Brien 100 and Andrew Murphy. The home side continued their renaissance in the final pairs leg with Anthony Prosser and Adrian Williams 100, 137 breaking the throw of Josh Richards and Andrew Williams for a 3-2 lead heading into the singles legs.

Josh Richards levelled the match score at three apiece with a break over Trevor Williams in the first singles and then the Con regained the lead with Mark Thomas holding over a gallant Terry Dowman.

The in-form Adrian Williams 100, 125 squared the match again at four each with a good win over Simon O’Brien before veteran Wayne James beat Gary Flye to edge the home side ahead. The Imp then went on to take the last two legs with Paul Prosser and Anthony Prosser beating Andrew Williams 2x100 and Andrew Murphy respectively to complete a fine 7-4 home win.